Calling Sid Mashburn a Southern gentleman is oversimplifying. Yes, he's a Mississippian, born and raised, with a warm, gregarious manner that makes you feel right at home—even as we're on the phone with him from our New York offices. And yes, his eponymous menswear store in Atlanta is part old boys club, part minimalist hunting lounge. But it was only after Mashburn spent a post-collegiate stint in the Big Apple—"I felt I needed to flee there," he tells GQ—where he got his big break working at some obscure startup called "J.Crew," that he returned to Dixie with his unique blend of timeless style and modern sartorial smarts.

And Sid Mashburn the store reflects those dual experiences, offering meticulously curated collections from top-notch labels, as well as a focus on friendly customer service—a lost art among many Yankee retailers, if you ask us. Sid was kind enough to talk to us about the essential items and inspirations, Northern and Southern, digital and analog, that keep his operation running at full steam.